Gateless Gate 26, Book of Serenity 27

174
Gateless Gate (Mumonkan, Wumenguan) #26
Book of Serenity (Shoyoroku, Congrong Lu) #27
Two Monks Rolled Up the Bamboo Blinds

Personnel

• FAYAN Wenyi (Hogen Buneki, 885-958, 15th gen), disciple of Luohan "Dizang" Guichen
• Two unnamed monks.

Case [boldface = in GG, not in BOS]

A monk once went to Great Master Fayan of Qingliang before the midday meal to ask for instruction. Fayan pointed to the bamboo blinds with his hand.
At that moment, two monks who were there went over to the blinds and rolled them up in the same manner.
Fayan said, “One gains, one loses.”

Wumen's Comment

Just tell me, which one has gained and which one has lost? If you have one eye opened concerning this point, you will know where National Teacher Qingliang failed. Nevertheless, you should not inquire into this problem in connection with gain or loss.

Wumen's Verse

The blind being rolled up, bright clarity penetrates the great empty space.
Yet the great empty space still does not match the principle of our school;
It is far better to throw away emptiness and everything completely,
And to come to the point where, with a tight fit, no wind ever passes through.

Hongzhi's Verse

Pines are straight, briers are crooked;
Cranes are tall, ducks are short.
In the ancient days of Emperor Fugi, all people forgot about reign and rebellion.
It was so peaceful as if a dragon were hiding in the abyss;
It was so free as if a bird shed the tether and soared to heaven.
Nothing could be done about it: the Patriarch came from the West,
And gain and loss were half and half.
The tansies turn in the empty sky with the wind,
The boat cuts off the stream and reaches the shore.
If sharp-minded patch-robed monks are here,
Observe well Qingliang's [i.e., Fayan's] method!

(Note: Emperor Fugi was one of the several ideal rulers of ancient China. Fugi is said to have taught people how to catch fish and to raise cattle – a legendary time of splendid peace.)

Aitken's Comment

“One gains; one loses.” The Heart Sutra says there is essentially no loss and no gain. Of course Fayan knew about this as a fact of life, his and ours. Thus his use of “gain and loss” seems bizarre. Here trust comes into play. This is the great Fayan — his words merit our respectful attention, even when they seem inappropriate or incorrect. What is he pointing to here?
Remember Zhaozhou in GG11. To the first monk who raised his fist he said, “The water is too shallow for a ship to anchor.” To the second who raised his fist he said, “Freely you give, freely you take away, freely you kill, freely you give life.” Zhaozhou was not judging, and neither was Fayen. Both teachers were giving teishōs. To see into Fayen's meaning, you must take gain and loss as the fundamental configuration of the universe, beyond evolution and entropy. Trees fall when they are old, and countless beings make their homes in the rotting logs. “Gain and loss” defines the universe and yet fails to define it.
When you look deeply into Fayan’s comment about the two monks, you find yourself — and you find the old master having fun with you. When he said, “One gains; one loses,” the outcome is a draw. What can you gain from zazen? Not much, I would say. What can you lose? Quite a lot, really.
When all concepts of sage and ordinary person, tall and short, birth and death, are rolled up, there is the vacant, cloudless realm of no time and no space where there is nothing holy or mundane.

Huanglong's Comment (Cleary)

Fayan had a sharp sword in his hand, killing and giving life according to the time. Both monks went at the same time to roll up the screen: Tell me, which one gained and which one lost? Do you understand? For mundane affairs, just use impartiality to decide them, the human mind can hardly be made equal to the disk of the moon."

Nanjian's Comment (Cleary)

Fayan was probing, the two monks were chasing a clod. Even if the wrap-up was quick, there was still no avoiding biting the dust on level ground.

Caoqi's Comment (Cleary)

Old Fayan sure had a magic spearhead on the tip of his finger! The two monks didn't manage to dodge it, and couldn't avoid losing their lives. If they had been of the right stuff, they'd have flipped over his chair the minute he pointed at the screen.

Cleary's Comment

The koan at hand is a story of a test, much like GG11. Later the story of the test came to be employed as a test itself.
Also, when anything is taken up, something else is left aside: This too is "one gain, one loss." The point of the Zen exercise using this perspective is not to seek gain and avoid loss per se, but to note the working of "one gain, one loss" in what you do and what goes on around you. This is a way to enlarge your perspective on events and make the most of the power of choice.
In Wumen's verse comment, "rolling up" seems to refer to the rolling up of the blind, but it actually stands for putting away all conjecture and speculation.

Guo Gu's Comment

How do you practice then? You dive into the abyss of gain and loss, right and wrong, yet at the same time you know that there’s no gain or loss, right or wrong. Why is it that when both monks roll up the blinds, one gains and the other loses? Meditate on this until you’re completely at a loss, when you simply cannot come up with anything. Yet allow this earnest mind of wanting to know force out your wits and all of your attachments.
Insights of emptiness, openness, clarity, oneness, and flow are not selflessness because in them there is still a self that experiences. Why? Because deep down there’s still gaining and losing, right and wrong, having and not having that lie at the core of these experiences. Therefore, usually people who have had these experiences believe deeply that they have gotten or attained something. What happens when we open the blinds? Back in the Medieval China, there were no [glass] windows; when the blinds were opened, there were simply no boundaries of “inside” and “outside”; everything was just openness -- there is oneness, and the space is clear and open. Similarly, when practitioners experience a sense of release, they take it as awakening. It is not. Even when there is a feeling of release or emptiness, or oneness of inside and outside, you have to let go of self-grasping. Here, in this case, self-grasping is expressed with the duality of gain and loss.
words and language are structured around dualities. The most fundamental is the way you relate to everyone, such as people at work, friends, and family. Duality and opposition is how you live your life. You polarize all of your experiences in daily life without much awareness. You walk down the street, observe that certain people are dressed a certain way, and instantly you categorize them as being this or that type of person. This mechanism has actually helped us survive as a species. This ability to discern right and wrong is not the problem. It only becomes a problem if you attach to your discernments, identify them as me and mine and I. The culprit is that you are attached to these views as yourself. You let discriminations take the driver’s seat, allowing them to govern all of your behaviors instead of reflecting on things more carefully, in a non-self-referential way that sees things from other people’s perspective.

Low's Comment

One of the biggest hindrances to seeing into this mondo and the koan is the firm conviction one is something in a world of somethings. That one is, moreover, a part of some great whole. However, no parts can ever be found, everything is the whole. On the face of it, this is a repetition of GG11 about Zhaozhou and the two hermits. In both koans two people do identical things: in the first, one is praised and the other condemned; in the second, one has it and the other doesn’t. Nevertheless, they are by no means saying the same thing. It is said that emptiness is form and form is emptiness. Does emptiness have it, or does form? Wumen warns strongly against discriminating between has and has not. But did not Fayan make a discrimination? Or did he? Is this what Wumen means when he says Fayan failed, that he failed to make a discrimination? In which case the failure would be glorious. Someone said everything is unique, there is no difference, so how can things be compared?

Sekida's Comment

"One gain, one loss." The original text says ittoku, isshitsu (itsu [it-], one; toku, a gain or to gain; itsu [is-], one; shitsu, a loss or to lose). This phrase can be translated either as “one gained, one lost” or as “one gain, one loss.” Monks generally think in terms of the first translation and are puzzled. In our translation, there is no puzzle, so the true significance of the statement is lost. Everything has two sides; that is, every advantage has its disadvantage (gain and loss). The two monks’ rolling up of the blinds is to be praised, as they showed their shrewdness in understanding the teacher’s mind. But at the same time, they may still have been thinking of gaining merit. That is always rejected in Zen. If you have anything in your mind that you want to make a show of, you are criticized. In Zen, you are supposed to act innocently, in other words, not to deviate from ordinary mind. If you keep to ordinary mind, you will not be affected by any criticism you may encounter. This case is similar to the story of Zhaozhou visiting the two hermits (GG11).
The secret. There is no gain and no loss. Those who come arguing about right and wrong are those who are enslaved by right and wrong.

A Related Tale (Senzaki)

Tosui was a well-known Zen master of the Tokugawa era. He lived in several temples and taught in various provinces. The last temple accumulated so many adherents that Tosui told them he was going to quit lecturing entirely. He advised them to disperse and to go wherever they desired. After that no one found any trace of Tosui.
Three years later, one of his disciples discovered him living with some beggars under a bridge in Kyoto. He at once implored Tosui to teach him.
“If you can do as I do for even a couple of days, I might," Tosui replied. So the former disciple dressed as a beggar and spent a day with Tosui. The following day, one of the beggars died. Tosui and his admirer carried the body off at midnight and buried it on a mountainside. After that they returned to their shelter under the bridge. Tosui slept soundly the remainder of the night, but the disciple could not sleep. When morning came, Tosui said, “We do not have to beg for food today. Our dead friend has left some over there.” But the disciple was unable to eat a single bite of it.
“I said you could not do as I do,” Tosui rebuked him. “Get out of here, and do not bother me again.”
Thus, Tosui guarded his teaching secretly, without any disciples at all.

Senzaki's Comment

Perhaps one monk arose first and the other followed him. Perhaps the first monk knew that his teacher liked to give lectures in a well-ventilated room. Of course he got the implication of vastness and enjoyed his teacher’s sparkling wisdom, but at the same time he understood the physical component. The other monk just followed his brother, thinking about keeping the lecture hall in the proper condition. The teacher saw this at a glance, and said, “One gains, the other loses.” In our life we waste many thousands of minutes that could be devoted to useful thoughts and actions. Hesitation and discontinuity are enemies of Zen, and imitations are the worst. Zen students must devote their lives to actualization of truth. They have no time to spare in consideration of their teacher’s preferences. Real Zen teachers should only consider their students’ realization, sacrificing every comfort of their own. Nothing can please them better than the constancy of their pupils’ meditation. The pupils should pay strictest attention to their main work, and go straight ahead, without thinking of anything else. Suppose the first monk was the only one who rolled up the screen and there was no other monk to follow. The master would have said just the same, “One gains and also loses.”

Background Story (Shibayama)

While Fayan was still a young training monk called Wenyi, he went on a training journey with a few of his monk friends. On the way their pilgrimage was impeded by heavy rain and they were forced to stay at a temple called Jizo-in [after Master Jizo, i.e., Luohan "Dizang" Guichen]. After a few days, when the flood was over, they were ready to leave and bade farewell to the abbot of Jizo-in, Master Guichen.
The Master pointed to the big stone outside the front gate and asked Wenyi, “Venerable monk, ‘All the three worlds exist because of the mind, and every phenomenon exists because of recognition’ — this is your usual elucidation. Now tell me, is this stone out of the mind or in the mind?”
“It is in the mind,” Wenyi replied immediately.
Master Guichen then asked, “You, traveling monk, why do you carry around such a heavy stone in your mind?”
Wenyi could not say a word in reply. Finally he decided to give up his pilgrimage and stay at this temple to study under Master Guichen.
From that time on Wenyi brought to Master Guichen, one after another, all the conclusions he had come to as a result of his profound philosophical studies. Each time the Master would laugh the proposition away, saying, “It is not real live Buddhism at all!"
Wenyi studied even harder, almost forgetting to eat and sleep, to solve his problems. But the more devotedly he searched, the more desperate he became.
One day, his energy exhausted, he confessed to his teacher, “I have no word to say and no thought to present.” He was driven to the last extremity.
Master Guichen calmly told him, “If Buddhism is to be shown, it is perfect and manifest.”
At this Wenyi was at once awakened to the Truth of Zen and was free in Dharma thereafter. Finally he became Master Guichen’s successor.

A Fayan Teaching (Shibayama)

Buddhism so-called consists of ultimate Truth and phenomena. Ultimate Truth is based on phenomena, and phenomena are based on ultimate Truth. They are interfused in each other; they are like eyes and feet. If there were phenomena alone and no universal Truth, things would stagnate and not work through. If there were the Realm of Principle alone and no phenomena, things would go astray and not return to the origin.

Another Fayan Teaching (Shibayama)

As for the view of the Dharma world, universal Truth and phenomena are thoroughly clarified, and form and emptiness of the self are transcended. The limitless ocean is embraced in a single hair, and Mount Sumeru, the greatest of mountains, is in a single poppy seed. Such are not particularly holy and mysterious works, but are natural occurrences as they ought to be. There is no principle that is not manifested as phenomena, and there are no phenomena that do not return to the Realm of all Elements. The universal Truth and phenomena are not two, and ‘it’ is neither a phenomenon nor a universal Truth.

A Fayan Mondo (Shibayama)

Once a monk asked Fayan, "What is the ultimate Truth?”
The Master replied, “First, I pray you will live it. Second, I pray you will live it!”

An Old Zen Master's Comment (Shibayama)

This koan aims to arouse the Great Doubt in the mind of the students. If they were to try to understand the significance of ‘One has it; the other has not’ with their intellect and reasoning, it would be like looking for horns on rabbits and horses.

Another Zen Master's Comment (Shibayama)

Why did Fayan see the difference of right and wrong in the same act of rolling up the bamboo blinds? In equality there is differentiation; in differentiation there is equality. When snow is put in a silver bowl, or a snowy heron stands among white reed-flowers, all is just white and there seems to be no discrimination. Yet a silver bowl is a silver bowl, snow is snow, a snowy heron is a snowy heron, and reed-flowers are reed-flowers. They are definitely different. If, however, you should come to the illusory understanding that Master Fayan saw the two monks with a differentiating view, you would be unable even to stand beside the two monks.

Unsourced Verse (Shibayama)

Don’t be overjoyed at the right.
Don’t be distressed over the wrong.
For the ancient Masters, things are like flowers and blossoms;
Peach blossoms are red, plum blossoms are white, and roses are pink.
Though I ask the spring breeze why they are so, it knows nothing.

Shibayama's Comment

Why did Fayan declare that one monk had grasped his mind and the other had missed it, while both of them did exactly the same thing at the same time? If there is no distinction of right (“has”) and wrong (“has not”) in the same action, why did Master Fayan say “One has it (right); the other has not (wrong)”? If there is a distinction of right and wrong in the same action, what kind of “right and wrong” did Fayan see there? The aim of this koan is to let the student clearly open his Zen eye to see through this dilemma. (Readers are advised to go through GG11 once more, where Master Joshu saw the superiority and inferiority of the two hermits who equally held up their fists. What was his real intention?) ‘One has it; the other has not.’ One might proffer that this shows differentiation and two, which are phenomena. Fayan is telling us to see the wonder of the oneness of universal Truth and phenomena, that in the universal Truth phenomena are included, and in phenomena is the Truth. This is certainly a beautiful explanation. But wonderfully expressed though it may be, it is after all an intellectual interpretation and not direct, live Zen. Zen does not explain the truth of “the oneness of Truth and phenomena,” but it lives actually day and night “the oneness of universal Truth and phenomena.” Every movement of hand and foot at every moment must be the live proof of it. Let me ask you here, once again, “What is the Truth of the oneness of the universal Principle and phenomena?” Unless you can show me the live fact as your answer, it cannot be Zen. It will just be an idea and philosophical speculation.
Let me ask you here, how will you transcend “has” and “‘has not” when Master Fayan declares that “one has it; the other has not”? Grasp the truth of rolling up the blinds there!

Yamada's Comment

This koan can be contemplated from two points of view, one shallow and the other deep. Fayan did not say which was the good one and which the bad. If either of the two had shown any sign of being disturbed, he would have been the one that lost. If one of them had lacked confidence in his realization, he might have become uneasy thinking that perhaps the master was referring to him as the one who lost. But a monk who is truly confident about his realization will always maintain a steady state of mind and will not be shaken or disturbed, even a little. From this point of view, we see the similarity to GG11.
The other point of view is to consider what Fayan truly meant when he said one had gained and the other lost. In the world of the essential nature, is there anything, after all, to be called gain or loss, good or bad? In the world of Mu there are no such dualistic oppositions. Fayan uses them as turning words to try to bring them to the realization of the essential world. His words may cause them to doubt. By doubting, and doubting deeply, they will reach the state of mind where there is no gain or loss. Fayan is urging us to realize this world of absoluteness where there are no dualistic concepts at all. That is the world of our essential nature.
There is, however, a third view, which seems to me to be the deepest from the Zen perspective. A monk came to Fayan to ask for instruction. Seeing him, Fayan gestured to the bamboo blinds with his hand. The two attending monks guessed that the master wanted to have the blinds rolled up. Is that true? No. He just pointed to the bamboo blinds -- that's all. This is nothing other than the manifestation of his essential nature, just as was Juzhi’s raising up of a finger. As to his saying, “One has gained, one has lost,” the same is true. There is no meaning at all. Just, “One has gained, one has lost” -- that's all. Master Fayan did not move his lips or tongue a bit when he said these words but was manifesting his entire body perfectly.

Sturmer's Verse

Rolling up the blinds
sunlight fills the paddocks.
Grass, sheep,
fence posts --
nothing to add
nothing to take away.
As the tide goes out
the rocks are exposed.

Hotetsu's Verse Hotetsu's Verses on Koans

Did I turn with a sigh
To the task before me?
Perhaps I'd have preferred something else?
I don't know.
Once done, am I pleased with the work,
Or only glad to be through?
Don't know that either.
When the yellow sun kisses the western horizon,
and the warmth of my tea rests in the cool of the evening --
the make-believe game of gain and loss has been packed away.

Appendix: Alternate Translations

Case

A monk once went to Great Master Fayan of Qingliang before the midday meal to ask for instruction. Fayan pointed to the bamboo blinds with his hand. At that moment, two monks who were there went over to the blinds and rolled them up in the same manner. Fayan said, “One gains, one loses.”

GG:

Aitken: The great Fa-yen of Ch'ing-liang took the high seat before the midday mean to preach to his assembly. Raising his hand he pointed to the bamboo blinds. Two monks went and rolled them up in the same manner. Fa-yen said, "One gains; one loses."

Cleary: Master Fayan came up for consultation before the communal meal. He pointed to a bamboo screen, and two monks then both went to roll it up. Fayan said, "One gain, one loss."

Guo Gu: Once, the great Master Fayan of Qingliang (Temple) was about to give a teaching before the midday meal. He gestured with his finger at the blinds, and at that two monks went to roll them up. Fayan responded, "One gains, the other loses."

Hinton: Asked by the monks, vast Dharma-Eye of Lucid-Chill Mountain took his place at the front of the meditation hall, ready to give instruction. Eye pointed at the blinds, still down for meditation. Two monks immediately went and raised the blinds. Eye said: "One did. One didn't."

Low: When the monks assembled before the mid-day meal to listen to his teisho, Hogen pointed to the bamboo blinds. Two monks simultaneously rolld them up in an identical way. Hogen said, "One has it, the other doesn't."

Sekida: When the monks assembled before the midday meal to listen to his lecture, the great Hogen of Seiryo pointed at the bamboo blinds. Two monks simultaneously went and rolled them up. Hogen said, "One gain, one loss."

Senzaki: Hogen of Seiryo monastery was about to give a talk before the midday meal. The bamboo screen, which had been lowered for meditation, had not been rolled back up. He pointed to it. Two monks arose from the assembly and rolled it up. Hogen said, "One gains, the other loses."

Shibayama: The monks gathered in the hall to hear the Great Hogen of Seiryo give teisho before the midday meal. Hogen pointed to the bamboo blinds. At this two monks went to the blinds and rolled them up alike. Hogen said, "One has it; the other has not."

BOS:

Cleary: Fayan pointed to a blind. The two monks went at the same time and rolled up the blind. Fayan said, "One gain, one loss."

Wick: Attention! Hogen pointed with his hand to the blind. There were two monks present at the time. They both went and rolled up the blind. Hogen remarked, "One gains, one loses."

Wumen's Verse

The blind being rolled up, bright clarity penetrates the great empty space. /Yet the great empty space still does not match the principle of our school; /It is far better to throw away emptiness and everything completely, /And to come to the point where, with a tight fit, no wind ever passes through.

Aitken: When they are rolled up the great sky is bright and clear, /but the great sky still does not match our Way. /Why don't you throw away that sky completely? /Then not a breath of wind will come through.

Cleary: Rolling up, there's utter clarity, penetrating space; /But even space does not accord with our source. /Better to let go of everything, from space on, /For such subtle secrecy that nothing can get in.

Guo Gu: Rolling it up: the great space is utterly clear and bright, /But this open spaciousness does not accord with our tradition. /When even emptiness is let go of, /Then not even the slightest breeze passes through (the blinds).

Hinton: To raise blinds is to fathom empty skies of illumination, skies vast and empty and still not our source-ancestral inheritance, /still nothing like tearing down those empty-expanse blinds, leaving intimacy so full wind's distances open past knowing.

Low: When the blinds are rolled up, the great sky is bright clear and empty, /But the great empty sky is not the way of Zen. /Throw away the empty sky, /Just let the breeze waft through.

Sekida: Rolling up the blinds, the great sky is open, /But the great sky does not come up to Zen. /Why don't you throw them all down from the sky, /And keep your practice so close that no air can escape?

Senzaki: With the screen rolled up, the vastness of the sky pervades. /Yet even vastness is not the teaching of Zen. /Forget the great sky. /Do not allow even a puff of wind to come and disturb it.

Shibayama: When they are rolled up, bright and clear is the great emptiness. /The great emptiness does not yet come up to our teaching. /Why don't you cast away emptiness and everything? /Then it is so lucid and perfect that even the wind does not pass through.

Hongzhi's Verse

Pines are straight, briers are crooked; /Cranes are tall, ducks are short. /In the ancient days of Emperor Fugi, all people forgot about reign and rebellion. /It was so peaceful as if a dragon were hiding in the abyss; /It was so free as if a bird shed the tether and soared to heaven. /Nothing could be done about it: the Patriarch came from the West, /And gain and loss were half and half. /The tansies turn in the empty sky with the wind, /The boat cuts off the stream and reaches the shore. /If sharp-minded patch-robed monks are here, /Observe well Qingliang's [i.e., Fayan's] method!

Cleary: Pines are straight, brambles are crooked; cranes are tall, ducks are short. /In the age of ancient emperors, people forgot about both government and anarchy. /Such peace -- a hidden dragon in the abyss; /Such freedom -- a soaring bird sheds its tether. /Nothing can be done about the Patriarch's coming from the West -- /Within, gain and loss are half and half. /Reeds go along with the wind, turning in the air, /The boat cuts off the flow and reaches the shore. /Spiritually-sharp mendicants here, /Observe Fayan's method.

Shibayama: A pine is straight and a bramble is crooked; /A crane is long and a duck is short. /People in the reign of Emperor Gi forget both peace and war. /Their tranquility is with a dragon lying in the depths; /Their comfort is with a phoenix released from its fetters. /There is nothing in the teaching of the First Patriarch. /Right and wrong are just equal, however they may be. /Mugworts dance in the air with the wind; /A boat goes across the river and reaches the bank. /In this, you monk of realization, /See through the working of Seiryo!

Wick: Pines are straight, briars are bent. /Cranes are tall, ducks are short. /King Gi's people forgot both peace and war. /That peace -- a submerged dragon in the abyss; /that freedom -- a soaring bird freed of tethers. /Nothing can be done about the Ancestor's coming from the West. /Right here gain and loss are about half and half. /According to the breeze a mugwort leaf twirls in the air; /cutting across the stream a boat touches the bank. /If there's a sharp Zen student here, observe Seiryo's expedient means.